A stand-off spectrometer can be utilized to identify an unknown substance by determining the absorption spectrum (e.g., spectral content) of the substance. For example, previous stand-off spectrometry may use broadband blackbody light sources (e.g., having a temperature of approximately 1500 Kelvins) and infrared Fourier transform spectroscopy to determine the absorption spectrum of an unknown substance.
The blackbody light sources of such previous stand-off spectrometers, however, may have a low radiation, which can limit the performance of the stand-off spectrometer. For example, previous stand-off spectrometers may not be able to effectively determine the absorption spectrum of an unknown substance, and accordingly may not be able to accurately identify the unknown substance, as a result of the low radiation of their blackbody light sources.